The Uneven Payoff of Returning to College

Roughly 43 million Americans have some college credits but no credential, including about 37 million working-age adults under 65. Re-engaging these adults could expand economic opportunities and help address workforce shortages, but new research suggests the financial benefits of completing a degree vary considerably among those who return to college.

A new report from California Competes, part of its ongoing Degrees of Value research series, examines the return on investment of a college degree among adults who previously stopped out and later graduated. Drawing on interviews with 27 California adult learners who left college and later returned, researchers explored the financial, personal and social benefits of completing a degree, as well as the costs associated with returning to college. Participants were first interviewed in 2023 and again in 2025.

About half of the graduates interviewed saw their earnings increase within three years of completing their degrees, particularly those who returned with clear career goals. One graduate went from earning $10 an hour as a cleaner at a nursing facility to more than $100,000 annually as a nurse. But graduates in rural communities described more limited financial gains because of fewer local job opportunities.

Emi Fujita-Conrads, a researcher at California Competes and author of the report, said graduates with clear career goals were often encouraged by their employers to return to college. Those facing limited job opportunities in their communities, however, could benefit from earlier career advising and better information about regional labor markets, she said.

“Adult learners really need clear and early career guidance,” Fujita-Conrads said. “Students are getting career guidance, but it often arrives too late to make informed choices.”

Benefits and barriers: While traditional measures of college return on investment focus on the economic benefits of earning a degree relative to its costs, the report takes a broader approach, examining the financial, personal and social benefits of completing college, as well as the financial, opportunity and personal costs.

The report found that the value of completing a degree extended beyond higher earnings. Graduates described developing stronger skills, gaining greater self-confidence, broadening their perspectives and creating better opportunities for their children.

“We find that institutions tend to focus resources on what’s measured, and it’s important to track earnings and economic outcomes,” Fujita-Conrads said. “But if California continues to only track earnings, we’ll miss these outcomes that students really value.”

Returning to college also came with significant costs. Some graduates reported accumulating $80,000 to $100,000 in debt. Others described forgone wages, childcare expenses and the challenges of balancing work, family and school.

“We saw that some of these added costs were around losing credits and extending the time to a degree, which pushed students into additional debt,” Fujita-Conrads said. “This was even more important for adults, too … where adults could be working but were instead attending school, studying and commuting to classes.”

Other research suggests that adults who leave college without a credential continue to see value in earning a degree, even when financial and personal challenges stand in their way. A report from Trellis Strategies, based on a survey of more than 3,000 former undergraduates across 58 institutions in 13 states, found that 73 percent believed completing their degree would improve their career earnings and potential, while 70 percent believed it would provide a higher quality of life.

Yet those expectations coexist with significant barriers to completion. Among respondents who identified reasons for leaving college, 35 percent cited personal finances, 32 percent said family or personal responsibilities, 27 percent cited employment and 25 percent attributed it to the cost of attendance.

Maximizing degree value: The report recommends steps state policymakers and higher education leaders can take to strengthen the benefits of a degree and reduce the barriers adults face, including providing better local labor market data, expanding credit for prior learning and removing age restrictions on Cal Grants.

Fujita-Conrads said providing adult learners with earlier career guidance and information about regional employment opportunities could help them make more informed decisions about their education and whether their credentials will lead to the outcomes they hope to achieve.

“Students who entered with a clear sense of how their credential was going to lead to their goals and their career outcomes—and whether those opportunities existed within their region—were able to see those benefits from a college degree,” Fujita-Conrads said.

“Listening to students is a really key part in understanding what the return on investment of college is, and what students really want when they go back to school,” she added.

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